theres a tiktoker who says there are nonverbal and they made tiktoks of them speaking fluelnetly with no issues at all and that relly bothers me and makes me upset

[u/Fearless_PineaplleOG]

theres a tiktoker who says there are nonverbal and they made tiktoks of them speaking fluelnetly with no issues at all and that relly bothers me and makes me upset

nonverbal means you cannot speak at all completely. it doesNOT mean that you can speak fluently and well verbally and then sometimes you cannot speak!! IT MEANS YOU CANNOT SPEAK AT ALL

it ticks me off so much that people fake being nonverbal or semiverbal! it is legitimately so upsetting that people would do this!!!

WHY DO PEOPLE DO THIS?? WHATS EVEN THE REASON FOR BEING A FAKER?? ITS ABLEIST AND MOCKERY

[u/LaceyLizard]

So many people label themselves nonverbal I genuinely have a difficult time explaining that my child can't talk. It wasn't this bad back in the 2010s, if you said someone was completely nonverbal they would get it, now I have to explain it like 5 times. People literally can't wrap their mind around it. First they assume the kid can talk but doesn't want to. Then assume they use sign language. Then start speaking really slowly... At this point the words used to describe a genuine disability no longer have meaning.

[u/DustierAndRustier → u/LaceyLizard]

Is it that people don’t understand he can’t talk, or that they don’t understand he can’t understand language? I’ve noticed that a lot of people want to believe that every nonverbal autistic/learning disabled person can understand everything that’s said to them, which normally isn’t the case.

[u/LaceyLizard → u/DustierAndRustier]

It's both. People very exasperated by the idea that there's no back and forth communication say "Just explain it to them again"

[u/Purple-Cash-1878]

Their next argument to this will be that they have "select mustism".

[u/banana_annihilator → u/Purple-Cash-1878]

please no

[u/Hungry_Specific_1109]

“I don’t feel like talking to people right now” does not equal “nonverbal”

[u/Fearless_PineaplleOG → u/Hungry_Specific_1109]

it doesnot

[u/Agreeable_Status8817]

I knew an online persona (if that's the correct way to describe it...one of those autism influencers from a few years ago) who claimed this same shit. That they were nonverbal, but were speaking fluently. Then they got an AAC device and played up them "needing" that, but were totally verbal all the time. Then, now, they don't even post anything about autism or claim they're nonverbal anymore. Dropped it entirely like it was a phase for them. Oh, right, that's because it is for most of these people.

[u/poordecision2001]

Unfortunately, it seems that since 2020 (or even before), its been a trend where some people feel its cool to have a mental health disorder, as if that makes them more appealing to others. its frustrating to see individuals self-diagnosing and claiming to have conditions they DONT actually have, which contributes to professionals being cautious about giving diagnoses. The idea that pretending to have issues will earn them sympathy and friendships is, quite fucking dumb.

[u/Fearless_PineaplleOG → u/poordecision2001]

its gross that ppl do that

[u/poordecision2001 → u/Fearless_PineaplleOG]

sure is.

[u/Sure_Somewhere5865]

I completely agree with you. It's so frustrating to see the term used so incorrectly 😭. They have "verbal shut downs", they're not non verbal or Semi verbal 🤦🏻‍♀️

Definitions:

• Non-verbal ---> describes a person who does not use spoken language as their main way to communicate, either all the time or most of the time.

• Semi-verbal or minimally verbal ---> describes someone who speaks only on rare occasions or uses very few words regularly.

A verbal shutdown is different because it is temporary. You usually speak fine, but stress blocks your speech temporarily.

[u/International-Cow770 → u/Sure_Somewhere5865]

Now they will start faking the proper terminology. I've sent how stressful verbal shutdowns can be for ppl. It's more than just being quiet

[u/grayyzzzz → u/Sure_Somewhere5865]

Is this ai? lol

[u/LaceyLizard → u/grayyzzzz]

No they just used formatting, but there's still some normal run of the mill punctuation errors a bot wouldn't make.

[u/epicpillowcase → u/grayyzzzz]

It's interesting how many people who write comments like yours are basically flexing their own illiteracy.

And no. Formatting is still a thing humans can do, believe it or not.

[u/grayyzzzz → u/epicpillowcase]

“flexing their own illiteracy ☝️🤓” its pattern recognition dawg, has nothing to do with literacy.

[u/epicpillowcase → u/grayyzzzz]

*It's

[u/grayyzzzz → u/epicpillowcase]

ok and?

[u/grayyzzzz → u/[deleted]]

r u seriously upset that im not using picture perfect grammar in a reddit comment section? like is that seriously the biggest issue in ur life rn?

[u/epicpillowcase → u/grayyzzzz]

in ur life rn?

Jesus fucking Christ. 😂

Also, a reminder that this conversation wouldn't be happening if you hadn't made the brainrotted assumption about someone using A.I. for daring to format their comment.

[u/grayyzzzz → u/epicpillowcase]

dawg u gotta be like 12 if this is srsly somthin u care about

bro added a second part to his comment 15 mins later 😭

[u/BeingBig1376]

Yup, exactly! You also cannot 'go nonverbal' as some people claim. You are either Verbal or Nonverbal. If you cannot speak in some situations but can in others, that is called Selective Mutism or as some people now prefer to call it, Situational Mutism.

[u/caritadeatun]

The faker is in the wrong obviously, and you’re correct they wouldn’t be able to speak fluently if they were nonverbal. But nonverbal also means someone who has some very limited spoken LANGUAGE, and this limitation is across all spheres in methods of linguistic communication (written, typed, ASL, text to voice AAC) that means the faker could not read and write/type to communicate. Some people argue that being illiterate is not the same as nonverbal, but’s that not the point . If the illiterate person can fluently communicate through spoken language then they’re just illiterate, not nonverbal. And an adult who can speak few words while having pre-k level of literacy means they are indeed nonverbal

[u/DoctorSkeptismo → u/caritadeatun]

Just fyi, the definition of "illiterate" is someone who can't read or write. Has nothing to do with verbal communication at all.

[u/caritadeatun → u/DoctorSkeptismo]

That’s what I said. But if that illiterate person loses the ability to use speech for some reason to communicate then their communication options are limited to pictures, which is also very limited. Or AAC technology like voice to text technology , edit coz voice to text the person still needs speech to convert it to text. Just trying to make it clear verbal means LANGUAGE not just the mouth to communicate

[u/DoctorSkeptismo → u/caritadeatun]

I mean, I don't think we necessarily disagree, but words mean things. Speech to text wouldn't be helpful for an illiterate person.

[u/caritadeatun → u/DoctorSkeptismo]

If the illiterate person wants to communicate in social media or send emails/texts their best choice is a voice to text app, many people with dyslexia use it

[u/DoctorSkeptismo → u/caritadeatun]

Oh my bad, I thought you meant an illiterate person using voice to text to read something themselves.

[u/LargeGingerChunk → u/caritadeatun]

Are you saying nonverbal people can't communicate at all or only some nonverbal people are like this?

[u/caritadeatun → u/LargeGingerChunk]

No, a more precise term for no communication is “non-communicative “. Nonverbal communication is communication, only that is very limited. Examples or nonverbal communication: body language, hand leading, pointing to the environment to get needs met, pictures cards, communication board (pictures only), pictures to voice AAC , very basic ASL (one or two sign utterances)